


Of Uncles and Witches

by P0tatonoah



Series: Cool Uncles [2]
Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Alternate Universe - Medieval, F/F, Fluff, M/M, Uncle!Andrew, Uncle!Neil, Witch!Allison, knight!renee, renison, story time, tiny bit of violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-10
Updated: 2020-11-10
Packaged: 2021-03-09 06:07:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27490072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/P0tatonoah/pseuds/P0tatonoah
Summary: It's story time at the Josten-Minyard household and it was said that uncle Drew has the best princess voice. It's up to him to tell little Theo the tale of the brave knight and the wicked witch.Once upon a time there was a brave knight who swore to protect a village from an evil witch, but the knight's heart had other plans…[This is a stand alone piece, but baby Theo's first appearance was in Cool Uncles]
Relationships: Allison Reynolds/Renee Walker (All For The Game), Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard
Series: Cool Uncles [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2008879
Comments: 18
Kudos: 53
Collections: Works by Fellow Exy Junkies





	Of Uncles and Witches

**Author's Note:**

  * For [abraxos_is_toothless](https://archiveofourown.org/users/abraxos_is_toothless/gifts).



> This fic was written for the 1st Fellow Exy Junkies fic exchange!!  
> I got [Abraxos-is-Toothless](https://archiveofourown.org/users/abraxos_is_toothless) and her prompt was Medieval au.
> 
> It was a bit scary writing for someone else, but I had so much fun! 
> 
> There will also be a winter exchange. If you'd like to take part in it, just join the [Fellow Exy Junkies](https://discord.gg/4DbxjeT6) discord server.

"Uncle Drew, uncle Drew!"

"Hey munchkin."

"Can you read me a story?"

"Why don't you ask uncle Neil?"

"He said your princess voice is better." The kid said with a pout.

"My princ-" Andrew started to question.

"Please, please, please?" Theo pleaded with big, wet eyes.

"Fine, which story do you want?" Andrew said in a bored tone that he didn't mean at all.

"Wait here. Don't leave." The child said, like Andrew would ever do such a thing.

Theo came back with a book in his tiny hands. The book was big and it looked very heavy, making Theo's little fingers seem even smaller.

Andrew watched as the child settled back on the bed. Theo groaned as he put the heavy book on Andrew's lap. Then he proceeded to fluff the pillows and watch Andrew expectantly.

"Once upon a time…" Andrew started.

"You're not making the voice. You need to do the voice." Theo complained.

Andrew cleared his throat and began again, with a much deeper voice.

**_O_** _nce upon a time there was an evil witch. Rumor had it she lived in the woods, deep within the threes and past the ancient bog. The villagers said she was horrendous, with a big nose and a stinky mouth, but no one had seen her in years. Kids and adults alike knew to keep away from her lands, for that was a good way to get turned into soup._

_Every year the village would choose its champion to venture into the woods and kill the witch, but her magic was strong and many didn’t return. The ones who did, would say the most ridiculous things and, after The Incident, the champions were no more._

"Did they die?” Theo asked with big eyes.

“Sure hope so, they sound like idiots,” Andrew said, more to himself than to the kid.

**_P_** _eople were scared and the threat of the witch was always looming over their heads. Until one day a courageous knight came to the village and took pity on its poor people. “I must kill the witch,” said the knight “And set your town free from her knoby hands.” The villagers were so happy, they threw the biggest party. The knight had never felt so welcomed and so loved._

_The next day, the knight left the village to find the witch. Past the ancient bog went the brave heart. But the more the knight walked, the harder it was to believe this witch could ever be found. “Where is the dark witch of which the villagers spoke of?” The knight questioned, looking everywhere for any signs of wrongdoing and finding none._

_“Witch, you say?” Asked a voice coming from the trees._

Theo gasped. “Is that the witch?!” The kid asked as he hid under the covers.

“Dunno, munchkin. Maybe it is and she’s gonna eat you.” Andrew answered, grabbing Theo’s foot, making the boy squeal. 

“Do you want me to stop reading?”

“Yes! Wait, no. Keep reading uncle Drew.” He got out from under the blankets and, putting his hands on his hips, said “I'm not scared of a stupid witch.”

“Oh ho, that’s the spirit-“

“You're here, if she tries to eat me, you’ll _stab_ her!”

Andrew forced down a smile and kept reading.

_“_ ** _Y_** _es, have you seen her?” The knight asked, trying to find the owner of that sweet voice._

_“Oh yes, I have seen her. Dreadful creature, you should run. Go back to the village where it's safe,” she said._ It is definitely a she _, the knight thought._

_“I'm afraid I can’t do that. You see, I’m here to kill that evil villain.”_

_“Of course you are. And how are you going to do that, exactly?” She asked, words cold and sounding a bit too close. When the knight turned around, the woman was standing merely inches away._

_“Who-“ The knight started to say, but the words wouldn’t come out._

_“Who am I? Well, I’m a-“_

"Witch!” Theo screamed.

“Hey hold your fu-fudging horses.” 

“Nice save!” Neil shouted from the kitchen.

Andrew just mumbled something that sounded too much like German curses and continued to read.

_“_ ** _W_** _ho am I? Well, I’m an apothecary,” She said with a shrug. “And let me guess… You are a brave knight who swore to protect the weak and the helpless.” That was punctuated with a pout and just the right amount of lash batting. The knight was speechless._

_“What is it, did the witch get your tongue?” She asked, booping the knight’s nose._

_“I- I’m Renee Walker and I’m a knight of the Foxhole Court. I serve under his majesty Kevin Day?” Said the knight, somehow making it sound like a question._

_“Huh, you don’t sound so sure. Tell me Renee Walker, why are you so invested in killing this witch?”_

_“She has terrorized a village and poisoned the mind of innocent men. Someone has got to stop her.”_

_“And that someone is you?”_

“Uncle Drew, what is theorized?” Theo asked.

“ _Terrorize_ means making someone really scared. Threatening to kill them or something.”

“Oh, so you theorize uncle Nicky a lot.”

Andrew huffed, but said nothing.

_“_ ** _W_** _ell, yes. The villagers are too scared to do anything.”_

_The woman just shrugged and turned away, looking pleased and sad at the same time. The knight, Renee, didn’t know what to make of it._

_“What are you doing in the woods?”_

_“Collecting herbs.”_

_“It’s getting dark, you should go home. It’s dangerous.”_

_Oh the smile she flashed at the knight was sharper than any sword._

_“Dangerous to whom?”_

_At that, her eyes flashed. It was too quick, maybe it didn’t happen at all. But Renee could swear they were violet._

“Run, knight, run!” Theo squealed.

**_B_** _ut Renee didn’t flee. She unsheathed her sword and, in seconds, her blade was to the witch’s throat. Only the witch wasn’t there anymore. The knight felt a finger touch her forehead and the world went dark._

“Well, guess that’s it for today, kid. It’s way past bedtime. Close your eyes and sleep now,” Andrew said, mussing up the boy's hair.

“Wait, no. I can’t sleep. I need to know what happened. Please uncle Drew.” Theo’s eyes were big pools of honey, and even though the boy was no witch, Andrew couldn’t say no to that.

“Fine, just a little more and then you’ll sleep. Don’t want your dad nagging-”

A loud cough came from the kitchen and Andrew went back to the story.

**_W_** _hen the knight woke up, she was in a small cabin. There were plants and wildflowers everywhere and the place smelled like something sweet._

_“Are- Are those waffles?” She said when the witch placed a plate in front of her._

_“Good morning sunshine,” The witch said and then added "Yeah, sorry about that.” When Renee fought against the ropes binding her hands and legs._

_“Couldn't risk you having any ideas.”_

_“Let me go witch,” The knight spat._

_“Oh_ witch _, such an archaic term. Just call me Allison.”_

_“I won’t have to call you anything when you’re dead.”_

_“Oooh feisty.”_

_The knight's only response was a growl._

_The witch tried to feed the knight, but gave up when Renee kneed the plate making it fall and shatter on the floor. Allison shook her head and with a wave of her fingers the plate was whole and on its shelf again._

_“Suit yourself.” The witch said._

_Days went by and the knight was too proud, or maybe too scared, to eat anything the witch offered. But still, every day Allison would bring her the most delicious smelling food. The witch would sit there and patiently wait for the knight to open her mouth while Renee stared at her with a scowl. Eventually, the knight's stomach grumbled louder than her stubbornness and she, begrudgingly, accepted a plate of french toasts._

_Such was their routine: Allison would come feed the knight and, once Renee was stuffed, the witch would get up and go about her witch duties. Some days she would sing, dancing around the small cabin. Some nights she would cry quietly on her bed, hoping the knight wouldn’t listen._

_There came a day when Renee wasn’t tied anymore, though she wondered if that was some evil scheme and the witch would turn her into a frog the moment she tried to escape._

_One morning, Allison had taken her to collect herbs and taught her which ones could be used as medicine and which would make her skin melt. Renee thought that last one was just a joke, and wasn't amused when the tip of her finger instantly blistered after she touched the foul-smelling plant._

_"Did your helm mess up your hearing?" The witch admonished while inspecting the injury._

_"M-my hearing is perfect, thank you," Was the smartest retort Renee could think of. Her thoughts were definitely_ not _all jumbled over Allison's gentle touch. It also didn't help that the sunlight created a halo of golden hair around the witch's face, making her eyes look like- Renee shook her head._

_"No, not falling for that."_

_"It must have affected your head too, let's take you back to the cabin."_

_That night, as Renee chopped the wild onions, Allison sang a rather annoying tune about how knights could be foolish didn't matter how cute they were._

_The knight's heart was confused, she had expected to find a terrifying creature, capable of the most dreadful deeds. She wasn't ready for this lovely, and sometimes insufferable, woman._

_“Why don’t you just kill me?” Renee asked one night._

_“Why would I do that?” Allison answered with a quiet smile._

_“Because that’s what witches do.”_

_“Says who?”_

_“Everyone.”_

_“Everyone meaning the villagers, I assume. Well let me tell you a story little knight…”_

_The witch told the knight how she saved a little girl once. The child had been very sick and her family didn’t know what else to do. Allison had not told anyone about her powers, because she too was afraid of them, but she knew she could save that little girl. So she did._

_Though the parents were relieved to have their child alive and safe, the rest of the village claimed the girl couldn’t be trusted, that she was now inhabited by evil and that Allison was to blame._

“That's not fair,” Theo complained.

“Yep. People are stupid, kid.”

_“_ ** _S_** _o they started calling me a witch and banned me from the village. Turns out, the girl's disease was contagious and many people died that year. They blamed me for that too.”_

_“How do I know you’re telling the truth?” The knight asked, but the witch ignored that and continued to tell her story._

_For many years, the villagers had chosen someone to enter the woods and kill the evil witch, but she had managed to turn them around or make them run away. Until one day, one brave man had come to her lands demanding to see the witch. His name was Seth and they had fallen in love almost immediately, like he was the missing part of her forever lonely heart. When she told him the story, he got so angry he wanted to go back to the village and burn everything. Allison laughed at his silliness and, for a while, all was well._

_Until he decided to actually go back to the village. "Not to burn,” he explained, "Just to make them see how good you are. You are the best thing that's ever happened to me and I want them to know that." He’d said. And oh how her heart swelled at that. But when he got to the village and told them just how good a person Allison was, people thought he was under a spell. That he had been possessed and needed a cleansing._

_“Cleansing, they called it.”_

Andrew started to think this story was a bit too much for a child. The witch talked about a fire and the smell of burnt flesh, but he just said the brave man was sent away, never to return. The last thing he needed was one more person to share his bed tonight. Neil and two cats were his limit _._

_“_ ** _I_ ** _couldn’t save him,” Allison said through her tears._

_The knight didn’t know what to do. So she just wrapped an arm around the witch allowing her to rest her head on her shoulder._

_The next day, Renee woke to the smell of freshly baked cookies. Her stomach rumbled and she practically jumped out of bed. When she stepped into the kitchen, Allison smiled. Renee stumbled on her boots and almost fell over._

_“Are you all right?”_

_“Yes, yes. Just haven’t woken properly I guess.”_

_“Sure, cookies?"_

_They ate quietly as Renee was content to just sit and hear the witch humming._

_Allison didn’t ask when Renee would leave and the knight didn’t mention it either, unsure of whether she wanted to. The days went by, and they gathered herbs, cooked, sang, danced and, at night, they sat by the fire and told stories._

_Until one night, as they sat in the witch's garden illuminated only by moonlight, Allison broke their unspoken deal._

_"Tell me Renee Walker," she started in a low voice. "Why are you here?"_

_And for what felt like the hundredth time since they'd met, Renee saw herself speechless. Why was she here? She believed Allison wouldn't hurt anyone, she could go back to the village and explain the truth. Hell, she could just leave and forget all about it. Why was she here? Renee couldn't find the words to explain it, so she did the only thing she could._

_She kissed Allison._

_As their breaths melted together the knight whispered "Because I'm in love with an evil witch." And Allison's laugh was all she'd ever want to hear._

Andrew could hear his nephew’s soft, steady breathing. Theo had a small smile on his lips, as if he knew the story had a happy ending. And though Andrew would never admit it, that smile was mirrored on his face as he turned off the light and left the room.

“G'night little munchkin.”

**Author's Note:**

> I may have cheated a bit, but I hope you liked it Haz! <3
> 
> Also, big thanks to [Alex_Glasses](https://archiveofourown.org/users/alex_glasses) for your kind notes, you're amazing. 
> 
> Feel free to check out my other works here on Ao3 or yell at me on [tumblr](https://p0tatonoah.tumblr.com/).
> 
> I live for the comments, so please let me know what you think :))


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